Yeah, Piggy's death in Lord of the Flies has always freaked me out. My 7th (8th?) grade teacher made me read it out loud in class. Pretty graphic death, and especially horrible when it happens to a schoolkid just like you.

Wow, a lot of crappy ones on that list. Somehow they think Dumbledore and Gollum' deaths were gruesome. I would consider those pretty clean, even for a young reader.

And how can they pick the clean death in a car accident of the antagonist in the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, rather than the horrific rape/murders he committed?

It's been a long time since I've read American Psycho, so I can't remember, does he kill the woman he tortures with the rat? Because that was pretty much the most horrific thing I've ever read. Definitely worse than the axe to the head they used as an example. But if she somehow survived, I guess it wouldn't count.

Madbassist1:The gore is the only thing worth reading in that over-rated piece of shiat.

I wouldn't call it over-rated, but IMHO the gore distracted from what I saw as the real theme in the book, which was a guy who was so numbed to humanity that he only saw people in terms of what they wore or owned. That's what I'm left with, anyway.

This. A short list compiled from memory:Herbert West - Reanimator - title character is torn apart by zombiesThe Rats in the Walls - Narrator eats his friendThe Color out of Space - People are literally dissolved by a sentient beam of lightCool Air - Doctors body rapidly decomposes when his air conditioning cuts out

MagSeven: I would put little Stanislovas' death from The Jungle (Upton Sinclair). Poor kid passed out from sickness/hunger on the floor of the factory and was eaten by rats. That freaked me out as a 4th grader.

I'm more freaked out by the idea of you reading The Jungle in the 4th grade.

Oldiron_79:No love for anyone killed by Reavers? If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing - and if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order

Barricaded Gunman:MagSeven: I would put little Stanislovas' death from The Jungle (Upton Sinclair). Poor kid passed out from sickness/hunger on the floor of the factory and was eaten by rats. That freaked me out as a 4th grader.

I'm more freaked out by the idea of you reading The Jungle in the 4th grade.

I remember getting a big list of around 100 books and we had to read and write a report on 4 of them before the end of the year. The Jungle was my second pick. It took me about a month to read and it was nothing like I expected it to be. I was expecting, you know, a jungle! Looking back I know I didn't really understand the political themes, just that bad things were happening to good people. That's what my report was mainly about.

Uncle Tractor:Madbassist1: The gore is the only thing worth reading in that over-rated piece of shiat.

I wouldn't call it over-rated, but IMHO the gore distracted from what I saw as the real theme in the book, which was a guy who was so numbed to humanity that he only saw people in terms of what they wore or owned. That's what I'm left with, anyway.

I thought American Psycho was way all over the place. I thought its commentary was interesting, but I would agree that it was too often concealed by its violence. I also thought the nebulous "Was it Fantasy?" ending* was extremely half-assed and felt more like the author didn't know how to end the story. Also the use of italics in the book was just odd; it emphasised every other word and it made me read the character as if they were talking like Napoleon Dynamite characters.

*though I should add that I think the movie was generally done better and that the ending feels a bit more concrete, albeit still somewhat half-assed, in that Patrick did kill those people, but the crimes were covered up as some kind of half-assed metaphor for preferential treatment among the Wall Street elite, or something...

That's bad but if you're in a coffin you'd suffocate within about 25 minutes according to what I've heard. It would be a panicky, desperate 25 minutes but there a lot more painful ways to go. Being walled up Edgar Allen Poe style would be a little longer.

dickfreckle:I confess that Easton-Ellis is a guilty pleasure of mine. But that scene with the rodent and the PVC is just...man that was just disturbing.

I own two of his books but never read them. Whenever I see the titles all I can think of is Easton-Ellis as a bitter old queen banging twinks a dozen at a time and trolling twitter. Which kind of ruins any possible enjoyment I would get out of the books.